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I'm disappointed and dismayed that my club would do this to young Joe . I don't blame Kyle Bickley , he has to look out for his own interests , but to treat a young rider trying to make his way in the sport , the way it's been done to Joe Lawler , like that is disgusting . At least give the reserves at least a month to prove that they are worth perservering with , then if a change needs to be made then fine, but to take away Joe's team place before a wheel has been turned in anger is just wrong .

Direct from Peter Facenna on Facebook, no need to apologise Midget, blobby etc. I don’t usually respond to comments on social media, however on this occasion due to some of the comments that I have read above and that are being made elsewhere, I feel I must. The reason I am choosing to comment here and not release a further statement through official club channels, is that the events that unfolded in the early hours of Friday morning are not going to help us attract new fans to our sport and are likely to be of little interest to anyone who is not already a speedway fan. I had very much hoped that I wouldn’t have had to go into detail about the events that unfolded, mainly to spare Joe the indignity and give him a chance to seek out another opportunity, however as he has chosen to not tell the full story and instead go out of his way to criticize the club, Joe is no longer my concern. Below are the facts, which are not based on hearsay and have not been embellished. The reason why we choose to base ourselves at the Village Hotel in Glasgow during our pre-season training camp, is that our health and fitness expert, Ray Watts, and his business, Pegasus Training, are based there. Ray is a volunteer at the speedway as well as a personal friend. Our camp started off well on Thursday with a tough fitness test session in the gym, followed by a chat around what it meant to ride for the Tigers, what we are all about as a club, and what we expect from the boys on and off track, based on the fact that they are not only representing Glasgow Tigers, but are also representing Allied Vehicles Group, a substantial employer and well known business in Glasgow. After going out for a meal together and having some fun ten-pin bowling, I dropped the boys off at the hotel at about 21:00. Having come home and gone to bed, I was woken at 00:37 by a call from one of our riders, who proceeded to tell me that after he had returned to his room from the Bar, Joe had set the fire alarm off, that the entire hotel had been evacuated, and that the fire brigade were on site. Furthermore, because Joe had been arguing with hotel staff, including the manager, as well as arguing with the Chief Fire Officer (all whilst wearing his Glasgow Tigers/Allied Vehicles jacket), he had been barred from returning to the hotel. Joe had told the other riders that he had no money to go anywhere else, so I contacted Paul and asked if he could make sure that Joe had somewhere to stay and that whatever it cost, I would give him it back the next morning. Unfortunately, a lot of the nearby hotels were full, so James and Paul had to walk a mile and a half with Joe until they found a hotel that had a room available. The hotel was the Radisson Blu and the room cost £131, which Paul paid and which I paid Paul back on Friday morning. On the Thursday afternoon due to Ray’s relationship with the hotel, we were afforded a great welcome and were provided with a meeting room and a function room that we were able to set up a studio in, all without charge. When I arrived at the hotel early Friday morning, I met Ray and apologised profusely for the embarrassment that Joe’s actions must have caused him. Ray and I then sought out the Manager of the hotel so that I could apologise in person. During my conversation with the Manager, who was very understanding and praised the other riders for their behaviour during the incident, he informed me that Joe had shown no remorse for his actions and had created a scene with his staff and the fire fighters. He also told me that had this not been the case, Joe would have been allowed back into the hotel. I informed Joe on Friday morning that he had caused reputational damage to me, to Glasgow Tigers and Allied Vehicles, and to Ray, who had gone out of his way to ensure that we were well looked after by the hotel. I then informed Joe that on the back of this misdemeanour, he would no longer be riding for the Tigers. I suggested to Joe that he could try to change his train ticket so that he could get home, however he informed me that his dad was coming to collect him. It’s been reported that Joe was ‘left stranded’ in Glasgow on Friday, however had Joe informed me that he wasn’t able to change his train ticket and that his dad couldn’t come and collect him until much later, I would have arranged another train ticket for him, despite the hassle that he’d given me that morning. I also offered to get the items he had left in his room dropped off at his house next week. As for the comments stating that we simply dropped Joe for Kyle and that this was always planned, I can assure you that this is not the case. Kyle did get in touch when he lost his ride at Workington but was firmly told that we already had our team and that we didn’t have a space for him. If making this team change was always planned, we would have done this weeks ago, before going to the expense of bringing Joe up to the training camp, kitting him out in all our team wear, buying a set of hiking boots for him, and ordering Kevlars for him, which thankfully haven’t been produced yet. The bottom line is that if Joe hadn’t acted the way he did on Thursday night/Friday morning, he would still be a Tiger and would be joining us at the Supporters’ Group event tonight. Joe is a character and applied himself well during our initial gym sessions, however the club and its main sponsor cannot tolerate our reputation being damaged in the way it was, especially after a conversation only a few hours earlier about how professional we wish our club to be and about how our riders are representing Allied Vehicles as well as Glasgow Tigers. It’s a shame it has not worked out for Joe with us, but I wish him well for the future. Out with this incident, our training camp has been a great success, and I look forward to the Supporters’ Group event this evening, where fans will get to meet our 2019 team. This is the last statement I or the club will be making on the matter.

Now that the full story has come out , i must apologize for my initial reaction which was arrived at due to my cynical attitude I have about speedway these says . The whole thing is unfortunate , Joe is a teenager and teenagers are not the most predictable of individuals and i hope he learns from this big mistake he has made . But i feel the news could have been announced better by my club . The unforseen circumstances bollocks that was trotted out only served to fuel the belief that Kyle Bickley was always going to replace one of the reserves once Workington shut . Hope this is the last unsavoury incident we have to deal with and we can now settle down to enjoy the coming season .

Dumping a rider before he’s turned a wheel is poor. Unforeseen circumstances my foot.

Went rather quiet on this thread for some reason lol, I bet half of the people who had a go at the club don’t post an apology or even comment on the statement from Mr Facenna . fact, people love to moan lol

Workington withdrew from the league on 14 January. You really think if Glasgow were that desperate to sign Kyle Bickley they would have waited six weeks to do it? As with most things in life there will be more to the story than meets the eye, only those involved will know the actual truth, the rest of us on the forum will make our own mind up as to what happened, based on how it fits our argument.

Joe was caught vaping in his hotel room whilst at the boot camp. How was he caught? Perhaps a smoke alarm that caused the full hotel to be evacuated and it then being identified that one of the Glasgow riders was the cause. Perhaps the incident didn’t stop there either...

Let's look at it anotherway then..... If Craig Cook had been cought vaping in a hotel room, would he have been dropped?? I think we all know the answer to that. Glasgow Tigers have had Bickley lined up ever since workington withdrew. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in denail

What a load of rubbish. We all know money is no object, so 600 quid on a race suit is peanuts. The club is that desperate for success it has no morals an no loyalty.

Glasgow was a better club before the current owners got involved. Used to love a trip up there, unfortunately it's the last place in British speedway I would now visit. British speedway was also better without the current Glasgow promotion being involved. What a disgusting way to treat a young British rider, who has spent money on equipment, hours training an preparing for the season, an what for? To be kicked in the teeth. No wonder British speedway is on its arse. HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME GLASGOW SPEEDWAY

As someone else mentioned, why Lawlor and not Chessell? And why the change after the team had a team building session in Glasgow? If Glasgow wanted Bickley in from the moment Workington withdrew, why wait until now and risk him signing for someone else? There’s more to this story that is being kept under wraps for someone’s benefit and i don’t think it’s Glasgow’s!

Pleased for kyle getting a ride shame its at glasgow now if only kyle and dan hadnt signed for belle vue under cooks influence comets would have had assects to sell to cover losses. Like take that say remember where your coming from !!

It amazes me that what some have said the drip feeding of team news to maximise media exposure ( which I fail to see has done anything other than p##s fan off ) all that hard work from the promotion this drip feeding and all the talk on here is car park charges rather than the return on Lewis Kerr they announced another rider yesterday people . Can only think this team must be the most uninspiring team ever to race for the club as the car park charge seems more important

Your the one who seems to like to "throw the toys out the pram" when people on here tell the truth about your beloved tigers.

THJ predicted this on January 12th.

So I hope now that people are not so quick to jump to the wrong conclusions. I commented earlier on the BSF, and stated that the club was under no obligation to tell anybody what had happened, and praised them for not telling people what happened as in many cases it doesn't do any good to the rider concerned in getting another ride in the near future. But some riders try to use occasions to get their story over and get revenge, and in this case it is a great example why everyone should keep their thoughts to themselves and shut their mouths. Because of Joe trying to blacken the name and reputation of the club, due to his own immature action and telling lies, the promotion has correctly had to tell everyone what really happened, and everyone should come to the conclusion that that will not do the reputation of Joe any good in trying to get a ride in future, and may have stopped some from giving him any bookings. If it does happen, well we know it's not Glasgows fault, and Joe might have to learn how to behave in future. One thing is for sure, Kyle Bickley is not involved in this in any way, and I hope he wows the Glasgow crowd and makes some good progress with them. I remember seeing Joe at Northside probably about 7 years ago on his little Janshi 80cc blasting it out with bigger lads and better bikes, and thought he could go far. This instance will not help that progress.

An that shows what you actually know about Craig Cook, cookies past is anything but quite let me tell you. They had Bickley lined up all along, wake up an smell the coffee

Cookie would not have be that stupid and bet the 400 customers that were evacuated at 2 in the morning and had to wait for 2 hours outside we’re not happy about it either more to it than meets the eye

Aye right. If you'd been aware of that there's no way your ego would have stopped you posting it here. Nice try.

Everyone is entitled to form an opinion on the events. Most of it will be way out but bottom line is it wont change anything , and we really dont care what people say or think about Glasgow simple as that.

Dropped for vaping in a hotel room away you go Thats brilliant. anyone who thinks Kyle hasn’t been lined up to come in since the closure of Workington needs to remove their head from the backsides of the owners. They’re desperate to win the league with all the cash they’ve chucked at it over the last few years.

Well said - totally agree Best posting I've read in 2019 so far

You may have hit the de nail on the head......

In football if a manager or player gets "sacked" the contract is paid up i hope young joe gets his full wack off the money men .

It will be interesting to see what the unforeseen circumstances are

Or turn up with 100 penny coins

12 year olds should be in bed by now weekend or not so why are you still up.

What will be Glasgow’s name now? Perhaps ‘Glasgow Comets’? I mean after all you have now got five ex comets in your team anyone would think you wanted to be Workington or do you not have the brains to come up with a team yourselves?

I agree it isn't a "great" line up in the sense of world class GP riders - In an ideal world we would want to see Tai Woffinden, Greg Hancock, Nikki Pederson, Freddie Lindgren, 2 or 3 top Polish riders, Jason Doyle, Emil Sayfutdinov, Hans Andersen etc etc. You could also argue that a "better" line up would include the likes of Robert Lambert, Danny King, Craig Cook, Jack Holder, Chris Harris etc etc. However this is a testimonial meeting and most of those riders won't be available, or will be reluctant to ride for the basic pay on offer (You only have to look at line up for the Ben Fund - very similar to Ben's line up!!) What Ben has done in assembling his line up goes very much in tune with his character, he has all his new team mates on board (except one who is unavailable) as he sees the value in giving them track time and it will help to build team spirit for the coming season. He has made the gesture of including Workington (a good commercial decision if it entices comets fans over) and giving the likes of Simon Lambert and Kyle Bickley the opportunity to get additional races under their belt and remind promoters they are available. I assume the invite to David Wallinger is a thank you for all the assistance he has given Ben whilst he has been with Redcar, again a typical gesture from BB. So no it isn't a "great" line up in the true sense, but when you look into the reasoning and thought behind the line up it is a very, very good one and I hope many fans come along to support all the riders

When will Glasgow announce Bickley in there team ???? Won't be long.

That is irrelevant though Kyle wasn't signed as Joe was still in situ. It was only after the incident that the ball would have been set in motion, so I would hazard a guess and say yes he would still have been relieved of his position regardless.

Yep but it will still go right over the heads of the haters on here, infact i would hazard a guess that they won't believe a word of the actual truth and continue to peddle there shi*e. If it wasn't so pathetic you would struggle to get why they dislike the club so much.

Sad that a club director has to go to this length to dispel all the crap posted about Glashow Tigers. Time to move on nothing more to be seen here

Cotton, You crack on to know a lot about BV and the management for a pirate. Or are you fake fan?

Ooops. Got it wrong again. Crowds have actually gone up. Although they want to get them to go up an awful lot more yet. Try sticking to just posting your daft opinions. No one can dispute that they are just your opinions (however daft). When you post things that are factually incorrect (as you have been doing), you're only going to look a fool.

That may be true but then why go through with the facade of inviting Lawlor to their recent training camp.

probably another brown envelope for mr Lawlor !

...and that is the problem, Smith doesn’t listen. I appreciate he is clueless about speedway and by all accounts not much idea about business but you’d have thought he would welcome customer feedback, listen and learn. I have emailed him before and he hasn’t had the decency to reply. He seems more interested in keeping ex-riders, volunteers and people with a long association with the Aces out of BV. As an ex-rider Lemon should have a word with him and sort it out but it’s obvious Lemo is just Smiths ‘yes man’...with NO authority or influence.

OK- YES- NO

Something must have happened for Joe to get dropped, do you honestly think the club would have bought a race suit for him, team jackets etc to dump him for nothing, unfortunately we don’t know the facts but have to trust the club in there judgement. riders have been practicing all over the country the last 3/4 weeks and a 2 pointer could have been injured at anytime and young Kyle would have been any clubs first choice, I believe Glasgow would have signed Bickley the day after Workington sadly closed if they were always going to sign him!!! i believe it now strengthens the Tigers at the bottom end, unfortunately it’s not a great PR story but that’s hardly Bickleys fault. Hope Joe gets a place soon somewhere else.

Looking at Bickleys website you'd have to say "more hype than substance" at the moment. He sis go to Australia in the winter but seemed to be outshone by Wajknecht and Brennan. I don't see him as anything but a reserve all season at Glasgow but may increase his actual average from his away average (as this will be a new track for him and very different from Workington) in 2018 of 1.13 to around 3.00 overall. Is he a better long term option than Joe Lawlor, frankly not sure??

Is that right yeah

Unforeseen LOL.

I think the Stars where very unlucky in 2018. After over 50 years of trying to win the top division.They hauled themselves from bottom of the league, to winning it by 6 points. On the way they had the best away record in the league to boot. Only to Loose free scoring reserve MPT in that "iffy" decision at Poole in leg 1 of the play offs. Then before leg 2 lost NKI as well. Add for the first and last time Poole was allowed to use a guest rider. not Poole's fault, but the BSPA..….. Well you know the rest

Belle Vue Poole Peterborough Wolves Swindon Ipswich Kings Lynn

K comes before R and T in the alphabet

Far kin hell. £1 to park, £18 to get in, £3 for a programme, £1 to sit down. £23 for the tripe served up a King's Lynn, what a bargain

SPECIAL feature on the 'Tiger' in Speedway Star next week...

John has given Sterling service to Ipswich speedway as a rider and as a promoter. Genuinely humble and a top guy. I think he should be nominated for a MBE or OBE. Not sure how you go about that but perhaps someone out there can advise as John really does deserve to be recognised. A genuine legend.

Attended all five. (Obviously southern softies can't travel!)